Playing Music and Videos from the Internet

In addition to playing audio CDs, you can go online and play music tracks. You can find many sites devoted to music. You can also listen to the radio or play videos using Windows Media Player. This section discusses these Windows Media Player features.

Finding Music Online

Windows Media Player conveniently provides access to its music site. Click Media Guide in the taskbar to access WindowsMedia.com. From here, you can find not only music, but also videos and other links (see Figure 11.7).

Figure 11.7. Use the Media Guide to get sample tracks, view movie clips, and get entertainment news.

tip

If you are not connected, you will be prompted to log on to your Internet provider so that you can access the online site.

You can choose to sample music from this site. For instance, you may listen to the samples of the tracks of a new CD to see if you want to purchase it. Use the links to navigate to the page that contains the links. (You'll find new CDs highlighted on the opening page of WindowsMedia. You can also click Music at the top of the page to view specific music information.) To play a track, simply click the appropriate link.

You can also download free or purchased music from this site. To do so, click the link for the song you want to download. New songs are often listed on the start page, but you can also use other links to view current songs. Figure 11.8, for instance, shows some songs that are available for downloading.

Figure 11.8. You can view songs available for downloading.

Viewing Videos

The Windows Media Player is not just for playing musicyou can also view video clips and animation. These might be files sent to you (such as a video clip of a friend's wedding) or files you have created. To playback a video, double-click the video file.

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In addition to being able to play video clips within Media Player, you can play video clips from Internet Explorer.

You can also access online sites and view clips from those sites. To playback an online clip, click the link for that particular video.

For instance, WindowsMedia.com provides links to video clips of current movies. Click the link to see the movie clip.

Tuning the Radio

In addition to listening to music, playing music online, and viewing videos, you can also tune into your favorite radio station and listen to taped or live radio broadcasts right from your computer. You can select from several preset radio stations, including NPR (National Public Radio), MSNBC, and others. (To use this feature, you must be connected to the Internet.) Click the Radio Tuner button in the Media Player window's taskbar to find and listen to radio stations (see Figure 11.9).

Figure 11.9. Tune into the radio from the Radio Tuner tab in Windows Media Player.

Using Other Media Players

In addition to WindowsMedia.com, you can find many other sites devoted to music where you can get information about CDs and artists, hear sound clips of tracks, purchase albums, and download music to your computer. Popular sites include iTunes.com, MusicMatch.com, and Realplayer.com.

caution

One hassle is that sites usually require you to use their player to play their music files. For instance, you must download and use the iTunes Player to play (and copy to a CD) music files from that site. Expect this to change as users demand more compatibility among different players.

You can sometimes download free music, such as promotional songs. You can also purchase and download specific songs or entire albums. At iTunes, for instance, you pay 99 cents for each song. If you use another player, follow the specific instructions for using that player to purchase, download, play, and handle music files.